Well, for a change this week, I’m shifting my attention to our state legislature up in Jackson. For all of us hoping for our state income tax to go away … it is … and it ain’t. I’m referring to Miss. House Bill 1, titled the “Build Up Mississippi Act.” This bill demonstrates how government can’t meet its ill-thought obligations without our money, and our legislature is playing a carnival slight-of-hand game. Instead of eliminating our burden, our “representatives” under the dome are moving the coconut shells. What they fear losing by eliminating one tax, they’re substituting with increases designed to keep their revenues alive.
One of my readers sent me an email asking if I could opine on this important legislation. Frankly, I was caught flat-footed, because like a lot of us, we’ve been so focused on Trump and the doings in Washington, I lost sight of my own words about how important local and state government is. And no matter how D.C. may change for the better, closer to home, things will remain the same if we’re not on top of what’s going on. And, unfortunately, this bad legislation has already passed through the House and on to the Senate. So, here we are basically blindsided yet again.
Nevertheless, I dutifully read HB1 and think it’s not even clear if enacted when the income tax will fall off. The plan only calls for a gradual “phasing out,” and details aren’t outlined. My guess is it won’t go fast enough to not impose not only income tax collection for some unspecified time into the future but adds new taxes. Including a 5-percent increase in fuel taxes and as the state will be keeping all of the currently collected sales taxes, both cities and counties will be allowed to increase sales tax on non-grocery items by 1.5 percent each. That tells me counties and cities will ultimately end up underfunded. To counter that, my thinking is ad valorem tax rates will increase, resulting in higher property and vehicle taxes and renewals. And when the cost of doing business increases, so do prices so they can cover their additional taxes on goods and operating costs.
That means you and I get hammered. Knowing government as I do, they’ll stall the end of income taxes as long as they can get away with it. All I can say is, go read the bill and draw your own conclusions.
The bill – written in bureaucratic lawspeak, as only government gobbledygook can – reads to me that whatever taxes get reduced (food) or made to go away (income), will be replaced by goods and commodities sales taxes to offset and benefit state employees’ retirement shortfalls under PERS. It definitely fills the pockets of public employees retirement by increased funding — roundabout by private citizens – and it’s true PERS is definitely underfunded, even though it’s a contributory program and also invests in the market. But anyone who owns stock through an IRA knows that’s a crapshoot on a good day.
We demand services from government — a lot of them. And our neighbors who do work for government should have a good retirement plan. But they’re not exempt from paying taxes either, so this really looks like, as the guy who emailed me wrote, a “rob Peter to pay Paul” deal. So, although the beneficiaries will reap their promised pensions, they’ll be paying for it, too, right alongside the rest of us. It’s decidedly a “carrot and stick” approach to ending state income tax.
One thing I do know is true is, I don’t know of any place where state employees make private-sector retirements solvent. The whole thing is convoluted and funnels more monies into MDOT (which I thought was supposed to put money into state education … eventually), but that hasn’t happened yet, to the best of my knowledge. But this bill says MDOT will transfer the first $100 million going to MDOT from the lottery system to fund PERS on an “annual basis.” I dunno how, and my guess is neither do the representatives who approved it already nor the senators who’ll ensure it becomes law. But worse, I bet most us don’t either. Now it’s a “too little, too late” event.
And that, friends, I lay on the doorstep of those we put in Jackson. I don’t recall any of my representatives coming into their communities about the content of this important legislation. I think they’re collectively like Pelosi (paraphrasing), “You have to pass the bill to know what’s in the bill.”
Further, my guess is they’ll readily acknowledge we hate the income tax because we don’t hide it. But that’s about all they hear or want to. Because how things get done is exclusively their wheelhouse. We ought to know our place — just sit still and be pretty.
So shedding that hated income tax makes them believe we’ll think they’re heroes and, naturally, vote them in again and not recall what it costs us — which we will, if what I’ve watched happen election after election holds true.
Oh well, we get what we vote for. Right?
Robin “Buck” Torske of Jones County is a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer and conservative activist, currently pursued by the Thought Police. Email him at [email protected].
